Hammer and Feather Ch. 33-40

"The humans managed to get into Half Shaft Mine. The mines around them-"

"They've sealed themselves as best they can, the missives say so." One of the men looked at her nervously. "You didn't read them."

"I talked to the ravens. They're not traveling fast enough to get away from the human force behind them but they'll come here if they can."

"This part turns black, near Durnach's Strike." Sirruil pointed at a part of the map. "This is where they'll attack."

"They have women and children with them." Nali felt fury and helplessness bubbling up. "They need help. I'm going out under her banner and I need men with me. I need any of Khiril Orefinder's priests who know the dangerous wards from the tomes. Even those who don't if they know the holding wards and the-"

One of the men held up a hand, "They'll be sent but a child can't be."

"You can send me or I can get out on my own. This mine can't hold me." Nali stood up as tall as she could and scowled at him and her father broke into a wide smile.

"Just like my mother. I'm going with her, Edrog, and I think she's got a new raven to look after her."

"It will take time to make a banner-"

"Where were those kept?" Nali pointed at Orsas' banner on the wall. "Orsas Fellforger had her banner, I saw it. Where-"

"The priests keep the box and it only had three in it. It's only ever had three." One of the others gave her an annoyed wave of his hand. "Take your daughter-"

"Look. Again." Nali put her chin up and folded her arms. "Father, I love you, but if they dismiss me one more time I'm going to make Lady Rook proud with the wards I put down." She met their furious scowls with her own.

A priest burst through the door carrying a bundle. His beard was mostly white but he looked young. Holding it out he panted for breath. "Don't-don't dismiss her. Khiril Orefinder..."

He took a moment to catch his breath as one of the men shook out the banner she remembered, pale blue, bearing a wreath of forest green leaves around a crossed hammer and feather, the feather stitched in gold and the hammer in black.

"Khiril Orefinder said that if you disrespect Lady Rook bad things happen. If you're lucky they'll only happen to you. Nali Rookfriend is owed the same respect you'd give to the highest of any of the priests." He dipped his head to her. "I met Lady Rook. She's... You should be respectful."

"This is the banner?" The dwarf holding it looked at Nali with surprise.

"That is Syreilla the Rook's banner." She nodded firmly. "Get it ready. We need to go and be there before the battle starts."

"Do you need armor?" One of the others frowned at her.

She shook her head slowly, "No. I need my work clothes and I need some tools, a feather, and a boot knife."

*Thirty-seven*

Events in motion. The words rang strangely when he heard them. Kwes had been growing accustomed to noticing little untruths since he'd put on the bracelet. Fainor wasn't as confident as he'd been making them think and the priests were a little sour about how much Cyran and Syvezar had done despite professing otherwise in front of those continually praising the pair of gods.

Even with Amtalia and Tirnel, he could see more clearly how worried she was every time he was called away and his father didn't believe his own words of comfort. He expected word to come that his only son had died each time Kwes left the tent.

Pulling his attention fully into the here and now, Kwes stuck close to Syreilla. The moment she noticed, she wagged her finger at him. "You go home and sit with Belthamdir. If anyone argues, tell them that the Rook gave the order."

'Events in motion' rang in his mind again.

"Go." Syvezar squeezed his shoulder. "They can do without you on the line."

Cyran looked around with a baffled smile and Kwes shook his head. "I'll take him with me."

"Good idea." Syreilla grinned and he felt like he'd done something right.

Making his way back to his tent as others ran to the front with weapons in hand felt strange. Seeing Tirnel headed up to the line grimly, he caught his father and handed over the sword he was carrying.

"You have your bow but take this too, Father."

Tirnel hesitated and Kwes insisted, "Take it. If you need it you'll have it. I've been ordered to spend time with my girls."

"You could use the rest." Tirnel took the blade and sheath, belting it on and giving him a brief embrace. "Look after them and don't let Belthamdir cheat at Telior. She's picking up bad habits."

Chuckling, he fell back in with Cyran, once past the soldiers he glanced at the god walking with him. "Thank you for the bracelet, by the way. I hadn't realized that it would work a little like Syreilla's Eye."

The smile on Cyran's face grew almost shy. "I didn't know it would, cousin. You see things differently?"

"I can tell who's telling the truth and who's rounding the edges just a bit." Kwes grinned. "If there wasn't a war on I could put it to good use." He laughed at Cyran's flat look. "No one would be able to swindle me! Give me a bustling market, this bracelet, and a small purse and I'll have a fortune in a week!"

"Kwes..." Cyran cracked an annoyed smile. "I don't think you would need the bracelet in a bustling market, if you didn't charm them into giving you what you wanted you could steal it."

"My wife would scold me. Fathers are supposed to be respectable." He plucked at his jacket and his cousin laughed. "I tried to tell her I'm a perfectly respectable thief but she just gives me this very motherly look-"

Cyran stopped, standing still to laugh harder.

"She didn't do that before we had our daughter."

He heard a throat clear and noticed Amtalia giving him a very pointed look.

"My dove! Syreilla sent me to spend time with you and Belthamdir. Rook's orders, I have no choice." He spread his hands and Belthamdir darted around her mother with a delighted look and sprang into his arms.

"Then she's not terrible!"

"Of course she isn't, my little finch. She can seem that way sometimes but if she's being mean she has a reason."

"She isn't so mean, but she's rude and she doesn't like to give things back."

"What didn't she want to give back?"

"One of my feathers."

"You've given me two wonderful gifts and you gave Lady Rook's husband a gift. How would you feel if I brought gifts for your mother and father, but only let you hold one of the things you like best and made you give it back to me?" Cyran smiled faintly. "Your Aunt will love you the same whether you give her something or not but you might think about it before you call her terrible."

The girl looked stunned and Kwes squeezed her. "She did let you eat most of the mead cake meant for her and she didn't hesitate to share those with you or the other children. Your aunt isn't greedy, she just likes feathers."

"Why don't we go find some for her?" Amtalia smiled warmly and over their daughter's head she switched languages, "It would help take her mind off of what's happening. Your father was called up to the front. The woods behind us should be safe enough."

"We saw him. I gave him my sword." He switched back, "That's a good idea."

Edun came out of his tent with the raven on his shoulder and on seeing them offered a baffled smile. "Baduil wanted me to come out and find you."

"We're going to find a feather for Belthamdir to give my sister. It'll be a good distraction."

The priest stroked the raven. "If you have difficulty finding one, he may be able to help."

"Let's see what we can find before we give her a feather from her own bird."

The raven puffed up and gave him what could have been a sour look. He felt almost cheerful as they came within sight of the trees. With Syreilla at the front, the worry he usually carried on his shoulders had lifted, there might be a battle going on but they would win this time without a doubt.

The large black bird took flight just before they entered the forest and as the raven circled overhead, he called out. The first thought in Kwes' mind was of the woods when they'd freed Syreilla. The bird had sounded that way-

"Baduil says there are men here." Edun stopped and looked at Belthamdir. "He's giving a warning."

Amtalia scooped their daughter up and he reached for his sword before he realized he'd given it to his father. A man with a crossbow peered around a tree with a grin.

"Cyran-"

The bolt was fired and Cyran somehow swatted it from the air before it struck.

"Get your daughter to safety." The look on the god's face reminded Kwes that he'd learned a few things from Syreilla.

Grabbing Amtalia and keeping her ahead of him, they sprinted back toward the camp and nearly ran into the large-eyed elf who stepped out in front of them. He gestured frantically for them to follow.

"Cyran... I'm supposed to take Cyran with me." The realization washed over him.

"I'll get him." Edun turned back and then shouted to him, "Go!"

The silent elf gestured for them to wait where they were and beckoned frantically around the tree.

"Cyran! You have to go with Kwes! Go! I have the feather!"

Cyran raced to where they were waiting and the elf ushered them through the doorway into the middle of a dark forest. All around them were ragged tents. Kwes had a feeling he knew where he was.

"Edun?" Amtalia looked at them in horror. "You left him?"

"I laid wards and he had the feather in his hand. Syreilla will protect him."

"Where are we?" She wasn't convinced but she had enough to worry about, he could tell.

"I think..." Kwes gave the elf a small smile, "You're the clever boy?"

The large-eyed elf grinned and then held up his hand for them to wait, vanishing from sight.

*Thirty-eight*

"Syreilla the Rook!"

She'd known it was coming. The moment Edun called for her Syreilla turned, opening the door and stepping through with her talons at the ready. She caught the blade as it swung toward the priest and grinned as the one holding it burst into flame.

"No one fucks with mine twice."

Finwion was hopping out of a soldier's way wagging his finger to no avail.

"Let me help you with that, my friend." Syr cast a ward at the soldier's feet that left him shrieking as his blood began to boil. It seemed someone had already laid down several wards of holding and caught a few of them. "You know, if one goddess of war is giving commands on the field, and she is, what's stopping an elvish god of war from doing the same?" She grinned at the large-eyed elf and he returned it before vanishing.

She busied herself tossing out a few more wards of holding, the easiest to lay and safest if any of the elves stumbled into them, catching a handful more human soldiers as elves armed with whatever was at hand began to come from the tents. Moments later Gruithon stepped out of thin air.

"She's on the field?"

"I met with her and she was giving orders to her priests on the field itself."

A disturbing grin broke over his face and his wine-red eyes glittered. "You have to leave, for now, Syreilla, but you will be welcomed back."

"I'll leave you my mages if you want them. They're having fun with the new tricks I've shown them. If you lend them power you can lay it on their feather mark. Try not to get them killed?"

He inclined his head and she opened a door to grab Syv by the arm. "Time to go, for now, my dragon. The elvish god of war has come to take the field." She offered her other hand to Edun.

"I have to stay, but I have your feather if I need you."

"Use it if you need me, don't hesitate, and listen to Baduil. He'll keep you safe."

She pulled Syv through to Finwion's forest as the large-eyed elf hurried a group of children through another door. They looked around nervously at the tents and then ran to Belthamdir.

"I wish him the best luck he can have and I wish her the worst." Syr grinned as Finwion held out his arms for an embrace. "Where is your protector, my friend, I don't want to be stabbed by my own knife without seeing it coming."

He laughed and squeezed her as she let him embrace her.

The hooded child peered out from around a tent looking at them all dubiously. "I'm not going to stab you. He said you were a friend."

"I am. And I've done worse than stab one or two of my friends in my life." She grinned as Magpie started to laugh and Finwion gave her an incredulous look. "They deserved it! I've had some terrible friends."

"She threatened to put an arrow back in my leg, and I'm her brother." Magpie shook his head. "Syreilla the Rook can love you and still give you what she thinks you deserve."

"One of her husbands is the god of punishment and pain." Syvezar smiled. "I do remember her raining fire on Zylius when he tried to harm us. I still don't believe he could have."

"Beloved, that man had a wicked mind. He might not have been able to kill you, but he could have made you wish you were dead. I was fond of him before he became a lich but I don't see malevolence as a flaw. It's a tool to be used. Other people looked at him and saw a monster."

Amtalia was speaking quietly to the children and glancing around nervously.

"This should be a safe place. If Finwion will allow it, you can stay with the children. But I don't like to sit and wait, if the Magpie is up for it we may go do a little thieving." She grinned and saw it mirrored on his face.

He grew suddenly serious, holding up his hand, "You're not going to use me as a distraction. If we're working together-"

"I do things a little differently than Father does, Magpie. Just because I want you to look at my hand doesn't mean I'm not going to use it. They're not going to know what hit them." Syr turned her grin on Cyran. "I know you disapprove of stealing, but this isn't really. This is more... rescuing stolen items from thieves, can you find it in you to agree to that?"

Her cousin laughed and folded his arms. "It isn't theft. I want to take my stone back and the others want theirs back as well."

"You seem to think she's completely without friends. That's not true, cousin. At least one of them is helping her willingly. I need you to go to Grandmother. Talk to the others, tell them the truth. Tell them about the things you've seen and done and tell them that Syreilla the Rook is going to go after those stones and she's all fire and vengeance. See what you can do about shaking her friends' faith in her." She looked at his ears with a growing smile and then at Finwion, "Can you show him that ear thing? Magpie will have an easier time blending in with human-looking ears and Cyran has been welcomed, no one should object if he wears points on his ears for a little while..."

Finwion's jaw dropped and he began to hop before wagging his finger with a grin and beckoning to both of them to come close. He cupped one ear on both of their heads and then the other. When she watched it closely she could see it was an illusion but when both were done it looked as if their ears had been swapped, even her good eye could barely tell. It wasn't as jarring as seeing Finwion's ears on a mortal child.

Belthamdir gasped and started to fuss. Finwion made a placating gesture and Amtalia started to explain but the child was upset. Magpie crouched down and called her over, he spoke quietly to her for a few moments and finally she nodded. She gave Syr an angry look though.

"What did she say?"

"She demanded that he give her father back his pretty ears; they don't look right on Cyran."

"Ah. Cyran isn't a thief. He'll give them back." Syreilla put on a pensive expression, "Probably."

Magpie gave her a flat look and Finwion laughed.

"I wouldn't steal my cousin's ears." Cyran shook his head, "But I'm glad to lend him mine to keep him safe."

The large-eyed elf looked pleased with that. Cyran bent to speak to the girl and she protested again.

Both he and Magpie seemed as if they were reassuring her.

"She doesn't want you to take her father somewhere dangerous." Amtalia gave Syr a measuring look. "I want your word, you'll keep him safe."

"I promise you, I will do everything I can to bring him back alive and well, and if one of us dies it will be me." Syreilla bowed and when she came back up they were all looking at her with horrified expressions.

"That isn't what I-"

"Why did that ring that way? Cyran? It rang like the words 'events in motion'. Why?" Magpie grabbed their cousin's arm.

"Because the words are prophecy."

"My treasure." Syv wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tightly. "I cannot allow you to do that."

Finwion came to stare into her eyes, holding her face in place much as Nimphon had.

"I take the risks that need to be taken and I keep those I love safe."

The elf staggered back and sat on the ground looking stunned. She could feel Syv prying at her threads. "You'll know what needs to be done at the right time, beloved. If I try to explain, or show you too soon, things may go wrong. Trust me to take the risks."

Syr allowed him to turn her and press his face to hers. She sighed and wrapped herself around him as he lifted a hand, caressing her ear.

"I trust you, Syreilla, but be careful and be safe."

"I've never been any good at being safe, my dragon, but I'll try to keep you safe. It'll be almost the same thing."

He laughed softly and stole a kiss. Behind her, she heard Belthamdir start to fuss again and someone else began to chide. She turned to see and the child she'd given a knife to was speaking animatedly. Her niece flushed and then burst into tears.

"She tried to scold you for upsetting everyone and for insisting that her father go with you." Syv pulled her against his side. "The boy told her that they're upset because you said you would die to protect her father and you're a goddess. You're not allowed."

Pulling away from him, Syreilla crouched next to her niece and beckoned for the boy to come closer. "What's your name, dear one?"

"Braigon." He came closer studying her, "Braigon Aeben."

Amtalia made a soft sound behind her.

"Braigon Aeben, this is my niece, Belthamdir Camaenien. Even if they don't like you, and even if they're unkind, family means something. At least it does to me. I don't like it when she's crying and people have said far worse things to me than she has. Her words don't hurt me. Her mother is here and both of her fathers are here. If she needs to be scolded one of them will do it. I would like it if you were friends with her." She softened her words with a smile.

The boy sniffed with a frown. "She's rude."

"It runs in the family, dear one." Syr made a face at him and the boy tried to suppress a smile. "Just because we're rude doesn't mean we aren't a great deal more than that too. She may not be quite as charming as I am, I don't think she has any dwarf in her the way I do, but try to forgive her for it."

Finwion fell over onto his back, kicking his legs and sobbing with laughter and Braigon grinned.

"I'll try, Lady Rook. I would have guessed you were part bird."

She tilted her head sharply and gave him a curious look. "Only part?"

The clever boy howled with laughter and the others joined in as Belthamdir asked a question.

With a grin, she came to her feet. "Before we go, perhaps I could ask my husband and my cousin to do a couple of small favors? Braigon and-"

Finwion held up his hand still beaming and gestured to the boy, just the boy.

"If you're sure. I'd still give you mine."

He clapped his hands over his heart and sighed. He beckoned for Belthamdir and Syr to come with him, disappearing into one of his trees. Grinning, she started to follow, turning to encourage her niece. The girl bolted after him without a word.